Comments

Your feedback is important to us!

We invite all our readers to share with us their views and comments about this article.

Disclaimer: Comments submitted by third parties on this site are the sole responsibility of the individual(s) whose content is submitted. The Daily Star accepts no responsibility for the content of comment(s), including, without limitation, any error, omission or inaccuracy therein. Please note that your email address will NOT appear on the site.

Alert: If you are facing problems with posting comments, please note that you must verify your email with Disqus prior to posting a comment. follow this link to make sure your account meets the requirements. (http://bit.ly/vDisqus)

Beirut Mayor Jamal Itani Sunday said that trees would not be cut down as part of a project to build a parking lot and new garden in place of the Mufti Hasan Khaled Garden in west Beirut.

Video of works at the park circulated online last week appeared to show some trees being chopped down. Itani said these were "dry and dead shrubs".

With green spaces already few and far in between in Beirut, new projects that threaten to further limit tree cover often face stiff opposition.

Itani said the new project at the Mufti Hasan Khaled Garden, one of Beirut's few remaining green spaces, was part of a wider municipal plan to create between six and eight new multistory parking garages that together would hold some 1,800 cars.

Construction is set to begin on the first three parking projects before the end of the year, and Itani said the Mufti Hasan Khaled Garden project, set to accommodate about 400 cars, would be completed in about two years.

A mock-up of the plans for the new garden shared by Itani on his Instagram shows a mix of grass, shrubs and trees, as well as a water feature and shaded areas.